Breaking Point
by lizabeth143
Summary: After Caleb, the only surviving member of her family, is killed too, Tris nears the breaking point. Is this all too much to handle for Tris, and will she finally cross that line? Or, will Tobias be there to pull her back? ***One-shot.***


The sight of Caleb's dead, still, bleeding body brings Tris down to her knees.

"No," Tris whispered. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Tris's small frame shook with her strangled gasps and sobs.

_He can't be... He just can't... He can't be dead!_

Tobias pulled her into his strong arms.

"Tris-" he murmured.

"He's gone! He's gone, Tobias! Gone!"

Her heart pounded heavily in her chest. She had a wild look in her eyes. Her brother's blood was smeared across her hands, her shirt, some caked in her hair and underneath her fingernails.

Tobias has witnessed Tris at her most weakest, fragile moments. He's seen her cry, seen her scared, seen her act out_._

_But this... This was... Too much._

Tris was nearing her breaking point. In just a few moments she'd cross it.

Tobias gently laid a hand on her cheek, wet with her tears, and looked into her pale blue eyes. He ran his fingers through her soft, blonde hair and said with a voice quieter than ever before, "Tris, you're strong. So strong... You have been through so much... Too much."

Tris looked up at him through her long blonde lashes. His eyes were a fierce dark blue. Bluer than they've ever been before. Tears pooled at the bottom.

_Why is he crying? He never cries..._

Tobias couldn't stand to watch the girl he loved so much crumble right in his hands. Seeing her like this; this shaken, this vulnerable, this fragile, weighed him down. Her pain was his pain.

_Don't fall apart Tris... Don't fall apart. But if you do, I'm right here to pick you back up._

Tris held up her shaking hands, covered in dark red blood.

"The blood... It- It won't go away. Why won't it go away? Please make it go away, Tobias. Please."

Tris was begging him. Begging him for something he could not deliver. Caleb was gone... And not coming back. Just like her parents, just like Will, Lyn, Marlene, Fernando,Al... Even Al. Good old Al. So many deaths... So many people she's loved, only to be lost soon after. Tris was beginning to feel like death had a way of following her wherever she went.

Tris glanced at Caleb's cold, pale, lifeless body just a few feet away from where she was curled up in Tobias's arms, and let out a heart-wrenching sob. And another. And another. And soon she was sobbing uncontrollably, gasping for air and clawing at Tobias's arms.

Tobias held on tightly, even when he could feel punches and scratches along his arms, his neck, his chest. He closed his eyes when he heard Tris let out a strangled scream, not wanting to have a clear image of Tris like this that he knew would haunt his mind in the future. h

Tobias felt hands pull at his heart when he heard Tris plead, "Please, Tobias. Please. Please just make it stop. Make it stop. Why won't you make it stop?"

_Because not even I am able to..._

And he hated himself for it. He hated how Tris, the girl he cared about more than anything- anyone- in this whole screwed up world, wanted- _needed_- him to help her, and he couldn't. He couldn't.

"Please just make the pain go away, Tobias. Please. I'm begging you. I just want it to end."

Tobias finally opened his eyes and gently pulled away from Tris so he could look her in the eyes.

"I can't make it end, Tris, no matter how badly I want it to. Only you can. You can end this-"

He pointed to Caleb's body.

"By fighting. By using this pain that you feel inside your heart right now-"

Tobias placed his hand on her chest.

"As a weapon. Use it against _them_. You can stop this right now, put an end to all of this. You just have to want it badly enough."

Tris stopped crying, but her eyes still held pain.

"This will _never_ end. People will keep dying, we will keep fighting, and the war will still go on. There is no hope for us. Soon, we'll have more dead bodies than live ones. We're not _strong_ enough, Tobias. _I'm_ not strong enough. And if you don't realize that, then you're just as stupid as they are."

_A fool._

Tris spit the words out at him. Her voice was bitter, malicious. She could hardly recognize it.

Tris expected Tobias to walk away, to give up on her, but he didn't.

Instead, he held her face in between his rough, cut-up hands, and said tightly, almost sternly, "Do _not_ say that. You are strong; stronger than you think. You are everything I hope to be as a person."

Tris studied his face. Even though his words were fierce, his face was soft, concerning.

"You are brave," Tobias whispered.

He lightly kissed her on her forehead.

"Compassionate,"

Another kiss on her nose.

"Loyal,"

A kiss on her right cheek.

"Cunning,"

Left.

"Selfless,"

His mouth worked its way down to her chin.

"And _strong,_"

His lips met hers in a fierce embrace.

"So strong."

The kiss started gentle and slow, soft and sweet, but grew deeper and more desperate. Tobias's tongue traced along her bottom lip, as if asking for access. Their tongues battled for dominance as Tris's arms snaked their way to Tobias's back, underneath his black t-shirt. Eventually Tobias won, and Tris let out something between a sigh and a moan. Tris's heart began to beat feverishly in her chest as she felt Tobias creep one of his hands down to rest on her hip.

"Tobias," Tris managed to breath out.

Tobias reluctantly stopped what he was doing.

"Sorry. I'm sorry, was that too much?"

Tris shook her head violently.

"No, keep _going_."

After a moment's hesitation, she felt her back slam into something hard, like concrete, as Tobias's kiss pushed her against the brick wall behind them. Tobias leaned his arms on the wall, as he pressed their bodies closer together, leaving no space in between them.

Their movements were urgent, rushed, like they would be pulled away from each other at any moment. Like they were nearing the end of the world.

Tris could feel his lips work its way back up to her earlobe, and gave a slight whimper as she felt the prick of his teeth gently bite down onto the soft flesh there.

His hot breath warmed her skin as he took quick, panting breaths.

Tobias lowered his mouth down to her neck and across her collarbone. Remembering the three birds that represented each member of her family, Tobias pressed a kiss to each one, lightly sweeping his tongue across the surface of the tattoos. Her family... Her now _dead_ family.

This realization brought Tris crashing back down to reality. She wished she could stay here, in this place, this moment with Tobias, but she couldn't. She just couldn't let herself forget. It wasn't that easy.

Sensing that Tris was done, Tobias stopped his trail of kisses.

Refusing to look him in the eye, Tris whispered, "I'm sorry. Sorry, but I- I just can't. I-"

"Shh," Tobias murdered, cupping a hand to her chin.

"It's okay. It's _more _than okay."

Tris nodded. She was not going to cry again. Not anymore. She was going to be brave, be strong, for her parents and Caleb, and everyone else whom she had loved and lost too.

"You are everything pure, Tris. Don't forget that."

Tris met his unwavering gaze.

"I love you, Tobias. I may have lost a lot of people who were important in my life, who meant a lot, but I still have you. At the end of the day, I still have you. And if that's not enough, then I don't know what is."

Tobias smiled and whispered, "I love you, too. More than you could possibly know."

And together, hand in hand, Tobias and Tris fled the cold, dark room; Tris, not once, looking back.


End file.
